REVISED FIRST ROUGH DRAFT

2
 3

Coeur de La Lgion trangres

Compiled from notes originally collected circa 1989-91 and embellished upon this
September odd-ten
 4

And concerning matters relative to the origin of the French Foreign Legion, as set
against a background of irrelevant world history

From this place and from this day forth commences a new era in the
worlds history, (and you can all say that you were present for its birth).
Goethe, 1792

Coeur de La Lgion trangres

Introduction

Bataille de Valmy
A. Hugo, France Militaire Histoire des armes franaises de terre et de mer de
1792 1833 Tome 1, Delloye, Paris, 1835

07 06 1792 During the French Revolution, the National Assembly, faced with Prussian
invasion, created a Foreign Volunteer Lgion 1

1
Several other Lgions of Dutch, Italian and Polish troops had been raised during the Revolutionary
Wars; and Napoleon had numbered among his troops the Hanoverian, Portuguese and Spanish Lgions, and
the Poles of the Vistula Lgion. These units fought all over Europe at Wagram, Jena and Eylau, in Spain
 5

and in Russia. Disbanded in 1815 after the fall of the Emperor, the remnant of these units amalgamated and
reappeared several months later under the title of Royal Foreign Lgion and, in 1821, this unit was re-
titled the Regiment of Hohenlohe.
 6

Eugne Fieff: Histoire des Troupes trangres au service de France

depuis leur origine jusqu' nos jours et de tous les rgiments levs dans les pays
conquis sous la Premire Rpublique et l'Empire, 1854

1792 France declared war on Austria. Prussia declared war on France. Battle of
Valmy France becomes a republic.

1793 Philippe Egalite, father of Louis-Philippe de Orleans, condoned the execution

of his cousin Louis XVI: Trial and execution of Louis XVI by beheading,
at Paris.2 England and Spain declare war against France. Royalist war in
La Vende: Second invasion of France by these allies.

Louis' head is shown to the crowd, from a contemporary illustration

The execution of Louis XVI by guillotine occurred on 21 January 1793 at Place

de la Revolution (Revolution Square formerly Place Louis XV, and renamed Place de
la Concorde, in 1795) in Paris. It was a major event of the French Revolution.

2
The Absolute Monarch of France, 1774 1789, when Louis XVI succeeded to the throne in 1774, he was
twenty years old
 7

1794 Execution of Robespierre and the end of the Jacobean republic. Rule of the
Convention

On 25 May, only two days after the attempted assassination of

Collot dHerbois, Robespierres life was also in danger as a young girl by
the name of Ccile Renault approached him with two small knives in an
attempt to murder him. At this point in time, the decree of 22 Prairial (also
known as law of 22 Prairial) was introduced to the public without the
consultation from the Committee of General Security, which in turn
doubled the number of executions permitted by the Committee of Public
Safety.

Die Hinrichtung Robespierres und seiner Anhnger am 28 Juli 1794

Glorious First of June

The Glorious First of June (also known as the Third Battle of Ushant,
and in France as the Bataille du 13 Prairial [ ]or Combat de Prairial)3 of 1794
was the first and largest fleet action of the naval conflict between the Kingdom of
3
[Wikipedia] The battle is generally known in both English and French by its date rather than its
geographical location. Naval battles were traditionally known by the closest land feature to the battle or a
particularly prominent coastal feature nearby. In the case of the Glorious First of June however, the nearest
land was hundreds of miles away and bore no relation to the battle. Thus the date has instead been
commonly used to represent the action. The discrepancy between English and French renditions is a result
of the different calendars then in use: for Britain the Gregorian calendar and for France the French
Revolutionary calendar. The name Third Battle of Ushant follows the nearest landmark tradition and also
acknowledges the two previous Battles of Ushant during the American Revolutionary War.
 8

Great Britain and the First French Republic during the French Revolutionary
Wars. The British Channel Fleet under Admiral Lord Howe attempted to
interdict the passage of a vitally important French grain convoy from the United
States, which was protected by the French Atlantic Fleet, commanded by Vice-
Admiral Louis Thomas Villaret de Joyeuse. The two forces clashed in the
Atlantic Ocean, some 400 nautical miles (741 km) west of the French island of
Ushant on 1 June 1794.

Lord Howe's action or the Glorious First of June is a 1795 painting by

Philippe-Jacques de Loutherbourg of the victory of British naval forces under
Lord Howe over a French force led by Louis Thomas Villaret de Joyeuse on the
Glorious First of June 1794

Lord Howes Victory over the French fleet: Final partition of Poland by
Russia, Prussia, and Austria.

1795 The French armies, under Pichegru, conquer Holland: Cessation of the war in
La Vende.

The Directory; Bonaparte suppresses a revolt and went on to Italy as

commander-in-chief.

1796 Bonaparte commands the French army of Italy and gains repeated victories
over the Austrians.
 9

Victory of Jervis off Cape St.-Vincent: Peace of Campo Formio between

France and Austria: Defeat of the Dutch off Camperdown by Admiral
Duncan.

1797 By the Peace of Campo Formio Bonaparte destroyed the Republic of Venice.
 10

1798 Rebellion in Ireland. Expedition of the French, under Bonaparte, to Egypt:

Lord Nelson destroys the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile.
 11

Detail from The Destruction of L'Orient at the Battle of the Nile,

George Arnald, 1827, National Maritime Museum

1799 Renewal of the war between Austria and France. The Russian emperor sends
an army in aid of Austria under Suwarrow. The French are repeatedly
defeated in Italy. Bonaparte returns from Egypt and makes himself First
Council of France with enormous power. Massena wins the Battle of
Zurich. The Russian emperor makes peace with France.

1800 Legislative union of Ireland and England enacted 1 January 1801.

 12

Bonaparte passes the Alps, and defeats the Austrians at Marengo, in Italy.
Moreau wins the Battle of Hohenlinden fought on 3 December 1800
during the French Revolutionary Wars. A French army under Jean Victor
Marie Moreau won a decisive victory over the Austrians and Bavarians
led by Archduke John of Austria. After being forced into a disastrous
retreat, the allies were compelled to request an armistice that effectively
ended the War of the Second Coalition.

Battle of Hohenlinden (Galerie des Batailles, Palace of Versailles)

1801 The Treaty of Lunville was signed on 9 February 1801 between the French
Republic and the Holy Roman Empire. Joseph Bonaparte signed for
France, and Count Ludwig von Cobenzl, the Austrian foreign minister,
signed for the Empire. The Austrian army had been defeated by Napoleon
at the Battle of Marengo on 14 June 1800 and then by Moreau at the
Battle of Hohenlinden on 3 December. Forced to sue for peace, they
signed another in a series of treaties. This treaty marked the end of the
Second Coalition; after this treaty, Britain was the sole nation still at war
with France.
 13

James Gillray, The first Kiss this Ten Years! orthe meeting of Britannia & Citizen
Franois (1803)
 14

The Battle of Copenhagen, as painted by Nicholas Pocock

British line is diagonally across the foreground, the city of Copenhagen in the
background and the Danish line between. The ships in the left foreground are British bomb
vessels.

1802 Peace of Amiens

The general peace lasted for just over a year, ending on 16 May 1803.

1803 Bonaparte occupies Switzerland, and so precipitated war: War between

England and France renewed.

1804 Napoleon Bonaparte is made Emperor of France.4

1805 Great preparations of Napoleon to invade England. Austria supported by

Russia, renews war with France. Napoleon marches into Germany, takes
Vienna, and gains the Battle of Austerlitz. Lord Nelson destroys the
combined French and Spanish fleets, and is killed in the Battle of
Trafalgar. Battles of Ulm and Austerlitz

4
Francis II took the title of Emperor of Austria, in 1805, and in 1806, he dropped the title of Holy Roman
Emperor. So the Holy Roman Empire came to an end.
15
 16

Napoleon reviewing the Imperial Guard, by Horace Vernet

1806 War between France and Prussia. Napoleon conquers Prussia at the Battle of
Jena.5

5
[Wikipedia]: The twin battles of Jena and Auerstedt (older name: Auerstdt) were fought on 14 October
1806 on the plateau west of the river Saale in today's Germany, between the forces of Napoleon I of France
and Frederick William III of Prussia. The decisive defeat suffered by the Prussian Army subjugated the
Kingdom of Prussia to the French Empire until the Sixth Coalition was formed in 1812.
 17

Meeting of the two emperors in a pavilion set up on a raft in the middle of the Neman River.

1807 Obstinate warfare between the French and Prussian armies in East Prussia and
Poland. Battles of Eylau and Friedland and the Peace of Tilsit

1808 Napoleon endeavours to make his brother Joseph King of Spain. Rising of the
Spanish nation against him; English troops sent to the aid of the Spaniards.
Battle of Vimiera and Corunna

In June 1808, the British government received word of the Spanish uprising
against the French. The British had a tradition of supporting the
Portuguese and used the Spanish insurrection as an excuse to send an
expeditionary force to Portugal. Their mission was to expel the French
Army, under the command of General Junot, from Portugal. The initial
British force would be under the command of a young general who had
made his reputation in India: Sir Arthur Wellesly.
The first British troops landed at Mondego Bay on 1 August 1808 and 4 days
later Wellesly had 13,000 troops ashore.

The British victory at Vimiera made the French position in Portugal untenable.
The Convention of Cintra was signed on 30 August and the French were
 18

transported back to France, with full honors. Portugal would be free from
the French until March 1809, when Marshal Soult invaded northern
Portugal. Vimiera was also the first time the new artillery shield, invented
by Colonel Shrapnel, was used in combat. It was also the first time
Wellington used the reverse slope of a ridgeline to hide his forces from the
attacking French a tactic he would use many times over the next five
years!

On 16 January 1809, a French army under Marshal Soult attacked the British under Sir
John Moore: The Battle of Corunna (or La Corunna, A Corua, La
Corua, or Elvia) refers to a battle of the Peninsular War. The British
had retreated across northern Spain following the defeat of the Spanish
and their allies in the campaign and were attempting to embark on ships
and return to England.6

Marshal Soult

1809 War renewed between France and Austria: Battles of Asperne and Wagram.
Peace granted to Austria. Lord Wellingtons victory of Talavera, in Spain

6
Letters from Portugal and Spain, Adam Neale, London, 1809, pp.100-104, Letters from 10 Dec. 1808
from both Moore and Berthier indicate that both sides are aware the allies are defeated and the British are
in full retreat. Moore, I had no time to lose to secure my retreat. Berthier, ...everything inclines us to
think that they (the British) are in full retreat.
 19

In the Battle of Aspern-Essling (2122 May 1809), Napoleon attempted a

forced crossing of the Danube near Vienna, but the French and their allies
were driven back by the Austrians under Archduke Charles. The battle
was the first time Napoleon had been personally defeated in over a decade.

Victorious Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen during the Battle of Aspern-Essling

~ 1856 (year of death of the painter)

The Battle of Wagram (July 56, 1809) was the most important military
engagement of the War of the Fifth Coalition and took place on the
Marchfeld plain, on the north bank of the Danube. The two-day battle of
 20

Wagram was particularly bloody, mainly due to the extensive use of

artillery on a flat battlefield packed with some 300,000 men. Despite the
fact that Napoleon was the uncontested winner, he failed to secure a
complete victory and the Austrian casualties were only slightly greater
than those of the French and Allies. Nonetheless, the defeat was serious
enough to shatter the morale of the Austrians, who could no longer find
the will to continue the struggle, hence deciding to accept a harsh peace
treaty, which meant the loss of one sixth of the Empires subjects,
alongside significant territories.

Napoleon at Wagram, painted by Horace Vernet (Galerie des Batailles, Versailles)

Wagram was the first battle in which Napoleon failed to score an uncontested
victory with relatively few casualties. The French forces suffered 34,000
casualties, a number compounded by the 20,000 suffered only weeks
earlier at Aspern-Essling. This would be indicative of the gradual decline
in quality of Napoleons troops and the increasing experience and
competence of his opponents, who were learning from previous errors.
The heavy losses suffered, which included many seasoned troops as well
as over thirty generals of varying rank, was something that the French
would not be able to recover from with ease.
 21

Georges Rouget, Marriage of Napoleon and Marie-Louise (1811)

1810 Marriage of Napoleon and the Archduchess Maria Louisa. Holland

annexed by France.

Spanish America became republican.

1811 Alexander withdrew from the Continental System.

1812 War between England and the United States. Napoleon invades Russia.
Battle of Borodino; the French occupy Moscow, which is burnt; disastrous
retreat and almost total destruction of the great army of France.
 22

The Battle of Borodino (Russian: ,

Borodinskaya bitva; French: Bataille de la Moskowa), fought on
September 7, 1812,7 was the largest and bloodiest single-day action of the
French invasion of Russia, involving more than 250,000 troops and
resulting in at least 70,000 casualties. The French Grande Arme under
Emperor Napoleon I attacked the Imperial Russian Army of General
Mikhail Kutuzov near the village of Borodino, west of the town of
Mozhaysk, and eventually captured the main positions on the battlefield,
but failed to destroy the Russian army. About a third of Napoleons
soldiers were killed or wounded; Russian losses, while heavier, could be
replaced due to Russias large population, since Napoleons campaign took
place on Russian soil.

The battle itself ended with the disorganized Russian Army out of
position and ripe for complete defeat: The state of exhaustion of the French
forces and the lack of recognition of the state of the Russian Army led Napoleon
to remain on the battlefield with his army instead of the forced pursuit that had
marked other campaigns that he had conducted in the past. 8

7
August 26 in the Julian calendar then used in Russia
8
Richard K. Riehn, Napoleons Russian Campaign, John Wiley & Sons, 2005, p. 253
 23

Napoleons Retreat from Moscow

1813 Prussia and Austria take up arms against France. Battles of Lutzen, Bautzen,
Dresden, Culm, and Leipsic The French are driven out of Germany.
Lord Wellington gains the great battle of Vittoria, which completes the
rescue of Spain from France.

1814 The allies invade France on the eastern, and Lord Wellington invades it on the
southern frontier. Battles of Lon, Montmirail, Arcis-sur Aube, and others
in the northeast of France, and of Toulouse in the south: Paris surrenders
to the allies, and Napoleon abdicates. First restoration of the Bourbons.
Louis XVIII.

Napoleon goes to the Isle of Elba, which is assigned to him by the allies.

Treaty of Ghent between the United States and England

1815 The Battle of Waterloo. The Treaty of Vienna

 24

Napolon abdiquant Fontainebleau (Napolon Bonaparte abdicated in Fontainebleau)

Paul Delaroche, 1845 Oil on canvas, 180.5 x 137.5 cm Leipzig, Museum der bildenden Knste
 25

Wellington directs his troops during the Battle of Vitoria

Portrait of Robert Owen (1771 - 1858) by John Cranch, 184

1819 The First Factory Act passed through the efforts of Robert Owen.
 26

Bombardment of Algiers by Lord Exmouth in August 1816, Thomas Luny

For several centuries, the Barbary powers of North Africa had committed
piracies on people of Christian countries. The commanders of vessels
were kept as prisoners for ransom, and the crews were reduced into
slavery. It had long been the custom of Christian nations to pay tribute to
the pirates, as a bribe for the safety of their commerce; but the insolence of
the corsairs induced the U. S. government, in 1815, to send a squadron
under Commodore Decatur to humble them. Decatur compelled the Dey
of Algiers to accept very humiliating conditions. The British government
followed the example of the U. S. In 1816, a British squadron under Lord
Exmouth was sent to Algiers. Lord Exmouth appeared before the city of
Algiers, in May (1816), and demanded the release of all Christians whom
the Dey held in slavery. As Lord Exmouth received no answer to his
demand, he opened a heavy cannonade upon the city, which was returned
by the Algerian batteries; and, after several hours of fighting, the Dey
informed Lord Exmouth that he would set his Christian slaves and
captives at liberty. And, the firing ceased. 1200 Christians were then
released and allowed to return to their homes.

1821 The Greek Revolt.

In March 1822, several hundred armed Greeks from the neighbouring island
of Samos landed in Chios. They began destroying mosques and attacking
the Turks, who retreated to the citadel. Many islanders also decided to
 27

join the Revolution.9 Approximately 20,000 Greek islanders and rebels of

Chios were killed or starved to death and 23,000 were exiled. Fewer than
2,000 Greeks managed to survive on the island.

The Massacre at Chios (1824) by Eugne Delacroix

The Siege of Tripolitsa or the Fall of Tripolitsa (Greek:

) to Greek rebels in the summer of 1821 marked one of the
first victories in the Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman
Empire, which had begun earlier in that year.
It is notorious for the massacre of its Turkish and Jewish population the
Massacre of Tripolitsa, which occurred after the city's fall to the Greeks.

For three days the miserable inhabitants were given over to lust and cruelty
of a mob of savages. Neither sex nor age was spared. Women and
children were tortured before being put to death. So great was the
slaughter that Kolokotronis himself says that, from the gate to the citadel
his horses hoofs never touched the ground. His path of triumph was
9
William St. Clair, That Greece Might Still Be Free, The Philhellenes in the War of Independence. London:
Oxford University Press, 1972, ISBN 0192151940, p. 79.
 28

carpeted with corpses. At the end of two days, the wretched remnants of
the Mussulmans were deliberately collected, to the number of some two
thousand souls, of every age and sex, but principally women and children,
were led out to a ravine in the neighboring mountains and there butchered
like cattle.10
Upwards of ten thousand Turks were put to death. Prisoners who were
suspected of having concealed their money were tortured. Their arms and
legs were cut off and they were slowly roasted over fires. Pregnant
women were cut open, their heads cut off, and dogs heads stuck between
their legs. From Friday to Sunday the air was filled with the sound of
screams... One Greek boasted that he personally killed ninety people. The
Jewish colony was systematically tortured... For weeks afterwards
starving Turkish children running helplessly about the ruins were being cut
down and shot at by exultant Greeks... The wells were poisoned by the
bodies that had been thrown in...11
About 30,000 Turks were killed in Tripolitsa, including the entire Jewish
population.

The Navarino Massacre was one of a series of massacres that occurred

following the outbreak of the Greek War of Independence, which resulted
in the extermination of the Turkish civilian population previously
inhabiting the region.

Before Navarin capitulated, many Turkish families had been compelled by

hunger to escape and throw themselves at the mercy of Greeks of the
neighbourhood. However, they were massacred. The Turks, who were at
the last extremity of starvation, offered to surrender: When the gates
opened on the 19 August 1821, the Greeks rushed in and the whole
population numbering around 3000 was killed with the exception of 160
who managed to escape.
Women, wounded with musket-balls and sabre-cuts, rushed to the sea,
seeking to escape, and were deliberately shot. Mothers with infants in
their arms were robbed of their clothes, and ran into the sea as the only
place of concealment, yet while crouching in the water they were fired on
by inhuman riflemen. Greeks sized infants from their mothers breasts
and dashed them against rocks. Children, three and four years old, were
hurled living into the sea and left to drown. When the massacre was
ended, the dead bodies washed ashore, or piled on the beach, threatened to
cause a pestilence... 12

10
W. Alison Phillips, The War of Greek Independence, 1821 to 1833, p. 61.
11
St. Clair, p. 43. William St. Clair also argued that: with the beginning of the revolt, the bishops and
priests exhorted their parishioners to exterminate infidel Moslems. William St. Clair, That Greece Might
Still Be Free - The Philhellenes in the War of Independence, p.12
12
George Finlay, History of the Greek Revolution and the Reign of King Otho, edited by H. F. Tozer,
Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1877 Reprint London 1971, p. 215
 29

After the Destruction of Psara by Nikos Gyzis

The Destruction of Psara was an event in which the Ottomans destroyed the
civilian population of the Greek island of Psara, on 5 July 1824. (The
entire population of the island Psara before the massacre was about 7000.)

1824 Charles X of France

1825 Nicolas I of Russia. First railway Stockton to Darlington.

1827 The Battle of Navarino13

1829 Greek independence.

The Invasion of Algiers in 1830 was a large scale military operation by which
the Kingdom of France, ruled by Charles X, invaded and conquered the
Ottoman Regency of Algiers. Algiers had been protectorate of the
Ottoman Empire since the Capture of Algiers in 1529 by Barbarossa.

13
[Wikipedia]: The naval Battle of Navarino was fought on 20 October 1827, during the Greek War of
Independence (182132) in Navarino Bay (modern-day Pylos), on the west coast of the Peloponnese
peninsula, in the Ionian Sea. A combined Ottoman and Egyptian armada was destroyed by a combined
British, French and Russian naval force. It is notable for being the last major naval battle in history to be
fought entirely with sailing ships. The Allied ships were better armed than their Egyptian and Ottoman
opponents and their crews were better trained, contributing to a complete victory.
 30

Landing at Sidi Ferruch on 14 June 1830; fighting at the gates of Algiers.

1830 A year of disturbance: Louis Philippe ousted Charles X; Belgium broke away
from Holland; Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha became king of this new
country Belgium. Russian Poland revolted ineffectually.

The July Monarchy (French: la monarchie de Juillet), officially the Kingdom

of the French (French: Royaume des Franais), was a period of liberal
constitutional monarchy in France under King Louis-Philippe starting with
the July Revolution (or Three Glorious Days) of 1830 and ending with the
Revolution of 1848. It began with the overthrow of the conservative
government of Charles X and his senior line of the House of Bourbon.
Louis-Philippe, a member of the traditionally more liberal Orlans branch
of the House of Bourbon, proclaimed himself roi des Franais (King of
the French) rather than roi de France (King of France), emphasizing the
popular origins of his reign. The new regimes ideal was explicated by
Louis-Philippes famous statement in January 1831: We will attempt to
remain in a juste milieu (the just middle), in an equal distance from the
excesses of popular power and the abuses of royal power.14

14
Louis-Philippe was responding to an address sent by the city of Gaillac, who had declared that it
submitted itself to the Kings government in order to assure the development of the conquests of July.
Louis-Philippe thus responded (in French): Nous chercherons nous tenir dans un juste milieu,
galement loign des excs du pouvoir populaire et des abus du pouvoir royal.- Quoted by Guy
Antonetti, Louis-Philippe, Paris, Librairie Arthme Fayard, 2002 (p.713)
 31

Louis-Philippe I, King of the French

The King is depicted at the entrance of the Gallerie des batailles which he had furnished in the
Chteau de Versailles
 32

Liberty Leading the People (1830) by Eugne Delacroix commemorates the July
Revolution of 1830. The child with two pistols to the right of Liberty (who holds the tricolor
flag), would be Victor Hugo's inspiration for Gavroche in Les Misrables.

The revolution drove Charles X into exile in England. Enemies of the new
regime were: the Legitimists of the Bourbon party, who considered
Louis-Philippe de Orlans a usurper, and remembered that in 1793, his
father, Philippe Egalite, had condoned the execution of Louis XVI; former
Bonapartists, who rallied to Louis XVIII in 1815; and, republicans, who
felt robbed of their revolution by the bourgeois monarchy.
Louis Philippes accession had been followed by a re-organization, which
was no more than a purge of adherents of the old regime in favour of the
partisans of the new. The army did not escape the purging process: In
the first days of Louis-Philippes reign, the Hohenlohe Regiment was
disbanded.

The Law of 9 March 1831, authorizing the formation of a FOREIGN LGION:

Louis-Philippe, King of the French, To all present and to come, Greeting;

In view of the Law of 9 March 1831; On the report of our Secretary of State at
the Department of War; We have commanded and do command as follows:
 33

There will be formed a Lgion composed of foreigners. This Lgion will take
the name of Foreign Lgion.
10 03 1831 The true birth certificate of the French Foreign Lgion: The Hohenlohe
Regiment was largely reconstructed under what would become its
definitive title LA LGION TRANGRES. The creation of the Foreign
Lgion was intended to remove from France those officers and soldiers,
French or foreign, who were felt to be awkward, excitable or frankly
dangerous for the new monarchy. Marshal Soult, the Minister of War,
decreed La Lgion trangres should not be employed in the continental
territory of the kingdom.
For the young Lgion and for the other restless units which would later form
the Army of Africa, Algeria provided a distant arena in which they could
work off that energy which, on the soil of France, might imperil the throne
of a king whose inclinations were bourgeois and pacifist.

The officers around whom the Lgion was formed were drawn, in part, from
among those who had formerly served in Napoleons Grande Arme and
who had been rotting on half-pay since 1815. The mass of recruits were
from European nations, driven to abandon their homelands either by
political turmoil (as in the case of the Italians, Spaniards and Poles), or by
economic hardship as the Swiss or by both together, as with the
Belgians and Dutch. There were also a number of Frenchmen, some
tempted by a chance of battle and adventure, and others who were simply
anxious to put a certain distance between themselves and the law.
Recruitment was brisk during the first few months

The Old Lgion

By Sept. 1831, five battalions had been sent overseas, under the command of
Colonel Stoffel, a Swiss officer who had served France for nearly thirty
years and who fought in the ranks of Napoleons army in Spain.
These first battalions disembarked at Algiers, Oran and Bne. Their uniform
was that of the line infantry of metropolitan France: royal-blue tailcoat,
heavy black shako, iron-grey greatcoat carried in a ticking cover on the
knapsack the only distinctive sign of the Lgion was the motif on the
buttons, which bore the unit title encircled in a five-pointed star.

While two other battalions the Belgian 6th and the Polish 7th were being
formed in France, the Lgionnaires in Algeria were serving their
apprenticeship in guerilla warfare. The style of fighting was dictated by
the enemy, in a terrain which favoured ambushes and sudden raids,
followed by swift retreats.

It was not until 27 April 1832 that the 1st and 3rd Battalions composed of
Swiss and Germans recorded their first victory (over Algerian natives of
the El Ouiffa tribe); on that day, they stormed the redoubts covering the
 34

approaches to Maison Carre a large village some miles east of Algiers.

This exploit won for the Lgion its first regimental colour, brought out by
the new commanding officer, Colonel Combe, and bearing on its folds
the inscription:

La Roi du le Franais la Lgion trangres

The King of the French, to the Foreign Lgion

After receiving its last two battalions, in October 1832, the Lgion boasted an
effective strength of 5538 officers, NCOs and fighting men.

This painting by Sir George Hayter (now in the National Portrait Gallery) commemorates
the passing of the Great Reform Act in 1832. It depicts the first session of the newly reformed
House of Commons on 5 February 1833 held in St Stephens Chapel which was destroyed by fire
in 1834. The picture includes some 375 figures and although Hayter abandoned the idea of
depicting all 658 Members of the reformed Commons he maintained the relative proportions of
the parties. In the foreground, he has grouped the leading statesmen from the Lords: Charles
Grey, 2nd Earl Grey (1764-1845), William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne (1779-1848) and the
Whigs on the left; and Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (1769-1852) and the Tories on
the right. Painted without a commission it took Hayter ten years to complete and another fifteen
to sell. Ironically, it was the Tories who finally agreed to purchase it, in 1858, for the recently
founded National Portrait Gallery.

1832 The First Reform Bill in Britain restored the democratic character of the
British Parliament: The Representation of the People Act 1832,
commonly known as the Reform Act 1832, was an Act of Parliament (2 &
3 Will. IV) that introduced wide-ranging changes to the electoral system
of the United Kingdom: (The full title is An Act to amend the
representation of the people in England and Wales). According to its
preamble, the act was designed to take effectual Measures for correcting
 35

divers Abuses that have long prevailed in the Choice of Members to serve
in the Commons House of Parliament.

Algeria
It was at this period that the smoldering resistance of the Arabs burst into
flames, fanned by the courageous young Emir of Mascara, Abd-el-
Kader.15

On 11 November 1832, Abd-el-Kader arrived before the gates of Oran with

some three thousand cavalry. Battle was quickly joined: The first charge
of the Arab horsemen was broken up on the slopes of the Djebel
Tafaraouini a feature dominated by the little Arab shrine, or marabout,
named Sidi Chabel.
Then, the French mounted a counter-attack: On the right were the Chasseurs,
and on the left the Lgionnaires of the 4th Battalion. This unit was
composed of Spaniards, many of them guerilla veterans of the Peninsular
War against Napoleons army of occupation. They were uncouth soldiers,
but crafty. They knew how to slip under a horses belly and up on the
riders blind side, tripping him out of the saddle to be stabbed to death.
Disorganized, the Arab squadrons began to break up. At nightfall, Abd-el-
Kader withdrew. Oran was saved.

On 9 April 1833, a new colonel was appointed to command the Lgion. His
name was Barnelle.16 And, he wrote a new victory into the record of his
corps with the capture of Kolea, (SW of Algiers). Side-by-side with the
Italians of the 5th Battalion, the Spaniards were at their work again and, in
15
`Abd al-Qdir al-Jazir (6 September 1808 - 26 May 1883, in Arabic ) was an Algerian
Islamic scholar, Sufi, political and military leader who led a struggle against the French invasion in the
mid-nineteenth century, for which he is seen by the Algerians as their national hero.
16
The name Barnelle is associated, above all, with one of the cruelest ordeals that the Lgion ever faced
and one which nearly destroyed it the Spanish Carlist War of 1835-38.
 36

June, they took Arzew; and, in July, they fought in the capture and, later
the defense of Mostaganem.

Spain
The trouble had started, in 1833, when the dying King Ferdinand VII had
willed the throne to his three-year-old daughter, Isabella under the
regency of her mother Queen Maria Christina. The dead kings brother,
Don Carlos, contested the childs right of succession, and led a savage
insurrection in the north of the country. Under the terms of a tripartite
agreement, Portugal, Britain and France decided, in June 1834, to
intervene on behalf of the child-queen.
12,000 British the first troops to arrive settled down around San Sebastian.
The French expeditionary force arrived later on. It was the Foreign
Lgion signed over to Maria Christina, in return for a promise that the
troops would be supplied and paid by Spain.

Camille Alphonse Trzel (1780-1860)

27-29th June 1835 At the last moment, two of its battalions the Italian 5th and the
French 7th were sent urgently to the assistance of a French column under
attack by Abd-el-Kaders warriors, near Oran. Lgionnaires preformed
marvels: Sacrificing them in the rear-guard, they bought time for General
 37

Trzel and his battalions to extricate them from a potential massacre on

the Macta salt-marshes.
No sooner had Trzels column limped home, then the Lgion, re-united, was
marched to its ships. On 19 August 1835, the Foreign Lgion
disembarked at Tarragona.

The Battle of Macta was fought on 28 June 1835 between French forces under
General Camille Alphonse Trzel and a coalition of Algerian Berber tribal
warriors under Emir Abd al-Qadir during the French conquest of Algeria.
The French column, which had fought an inconclusive but somewhat
bloody battle with al-Qadir a few days earlier, was retreating toward
Arzew to resupply when al-Qadir attacked in the marshes on the banks of
the Macta River in what is now western Algeria. The French panicked and
fled to Arzew in a disorganized rout.
The disaster led to the recall to France of Trzel17 and the Comte dErlon, the
first military governor-general of the French possessions in Africa, and
helped al-Qadir gain influence over tribes throughout Algeria.

The struggle between the Carlists and the Cristinos was seldom chivalrous.
The Lgion was to learn during the later part of 183518 and the winter
which followed. God help any man who fell into the hands of the enemy
alive.

By mid-September, an outpost defended by thirty Lgionnaires under Sous-

lieutenant Dumoustier was captured by the Carlists. It was suggested to
the Lgion that they change sides. They refused. For several days,
thereafter, they were dragged from village-to-village bound, naked, and
with their eyes put out. Eventually, they were shot.
Capitaine Ferrary captured a Carlist unit he took no prisoners.

Up until April 1836, the Foreign Lgion had been purely an infantry corps.
Bernelle promoted Field Marshal by Maria Cristini decided to convert
his regiment into an autonomous command,19 complete with its own
support and reconnaissance units. He put in hand the formation of an
artillery unit, under the command of Capitaine Rousselet; a sapper unit;
and several cavalry squadrons, largely composed of Polish lancers.

Another innovation, which proved lasting, was the mixing of nationalities,

Bernelle ordered throughout the units under his command. National
quarrels were brought into the Lgion by the new recruits, and there were
strains between the different national battalions with nationalities
mixed, within even the smallest sub-unit, these were simply impossible to
sustain. The advantage was obvious improved co-ordination and unity
17
13 January 1837 : Grand-officer of the Lgion d'honneur
18
1835 The word socialism first used.
19
First known attempt to form a tactically balanced combat group the last for many years to come
fore-shadowing methods of todays Lgion.
 38

of ideas within a regiment in which all ranks were obliged to

(henceforward) speak French as their common language.

24 04 1836 The action at Tirapegui a victorious, but costly engagement

01 08 1836 The battle of Zubiri another victorious, but costly engagement, where the
Carlists attacked a defensive line held by the loyalist army; the day was
saved by Rousselets guns. The Carlists fell back, but not before the
Lgions 3rd and 4th Battalions had lost three hundred dead.

All Bernelle asked in return for the suffering of his men was that the Spanish
authorities keep their promise to supply him with rations, clothing and
pay. It was a vain hope. The only answer he was favoured with was the
suggestion that your men look after their greatcoats. In the end, they
were in rags.
For lack of anything else, they adopted the local beret favoured by the
Carlists, and replaced their ruined boots with Spanish espadrilles.
Bernelle raged at the Spanish over this callous treatment and he was relieved
of his command. His successor, Colonel Conrad (christened by the
Carlists as the hero on the white horse) would have no greater success.
For two more long years, the Lgion penniless, starving, and wretched
dragged itself from one battle to another all along the foothills of the
Pyrenees. Lgionnaires fought in a hundred engagements.

Constantine
Even whilest the regiment of Bernelle and Conrad was fighting in Spain to a
standstill other foreigners were enlisting in the south of France for
service in a second Lgion, destined for Algeria. Two battalions strong,
this new Lgion disembarked in the first days of 1837, in time to take
part in the second campaign mounted by the French against the fortified
city of Constantine. The previous year, (in 1836), a first attempt had
failed to subdue the citadel, which was strongly defended, well-equiped
with artillery, and perched high on a rocky plateau surrounded by deep
gorges.

Ahmed Bey had continuously resisted any attempts by the French or others to
subjugate Constantine, and continued to play a role in resistance against
French rule, in part because he hoped to eventually become the next dey.
Clausel and Ahmed had tangled diplomatically over Ahmed's refusal to
recognize French authority over Bne, which he considered to still be
Ottoman territory, and Clausel decided to move against him.
In November 1836 Clausel led 8700 men into the Constantine beylik, but was
repulsed in the Battle of Constantine; the failure led to Clausels recall.
He was replaced by the Comte de Damrmont, who led an expedition that
 39

successfully captured Constantine the following year, although he was

killed during the siege and replaced by Sylvain Charles, comte Vale.

Sylvain-Charles, Comte Vale (1773-1846)

 40

The Fall of the Alamo (1903) by Robert Jenkins Onderdonk, depicts Davy Crockett wielding his
rifle as a club against Mexican troops who have breached the walls of the mission.

The Battle of San Jacinto-1895 painting by Henry Arthur McArdle (1836-1908)

 41

End of the Old Lgion

02 06 1837 It was at Barbastro that Colonel Conrad was killed. It was there, too, that
the old Lgion began its final agony after a murderous battle which
reduced it to a single battalion. The survivors were dumped in
Pamplona, where they had to endure another six months without pay or
rations before their suffering came to an end.
Of the nearly 5000 men who disembarked in 1835, fewer than 500 crossed
back into France. The Spanish martyrdom was over.

1837 Queen Victoria

Queen Victoria (1819-1901) was the daughter of Edward, the Duke of Kent
and Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg. She was born in Kensington Palace
in London on 24 May 1819. Edward died when Victoria was but eight
months old, upon which her mother enacted a strict regimen that shunned
the courts of Victorias uncles, George IV and William IV. In 1837 Queen
Victoria took the throne after the death of her uncle William IV. Due to
her secluded childhood, she displayed a personality marked by strong
prejudices and a willful stubbornness.
 42

The New Lgion

La prise de Constantine by Horace Vernet

9-13 10 1837 The second attempt on Constantine began in foul weather. It lasted four
days. On the 13th, at the head of storming parties, the Lgion fought its
way through a breach battered through the walls. All that day they fought
in the narrow streets of the old Arab town against a bitter resistance. At
last, night fell; Sergeant-Major Doze of the Lgion captured the last
enemy flag.

1838 By the beginning of 1838, the Lgion fielded three battalions. Lgionnaires
saw action in a number of scattered engagements, notably near Algiers
against the forces of Abd-el-Kader the irreconcilable enemy.
 43

As always, they also spent a lot of their time in construction work: Between
Douera and Boufarik they built a metalled road La Chausse de la
Lgion.

1840 Queen Victoria married Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha

Portraits by Franz Xavier Winterhalter (1806-1873)

The End of the Conquest

In 1841, their numbers increasing steadily, the battalions of the Lgion were
regrouped into two separate regiments: 1er Regiment trangres based
around Algiers, its operational area in the western part of the country;
founding the town that would become the cradle of the Lgion Sidi-bel-
Abbes, (about sixty miles outside of Oran). The regiment settled to a
tireless routine of patrolling the countryside in flying columns; building
here, fighting there, establishing outposts, laying roads, and beating off the
attacks of war-parties sent out by the relentless Emir of Mascar, Abd-el-
Kader.
 44

2e Regiment trangres was based at Bne: It turned its attention westwards,

toward the Kabyle highlands, and southwards, beyond Biskra, where the
sands of the Sahara20 lapped against the Aures mountains.

15 03 1844 The 2e Regiment trangres distinguished itself in savage fighting for one
of the strongholds of resistance in the area the Berber village of
MCounech earned the 2eR a regimental colour. This exploit was
reported to Louis-Philippe by his son, the Duc dAumale, who had put him
at the head of the Lgionnaires. The area was not pacified for long. The
Chaouia tribesmen of the Aures were stubborn enemies, and the Saharan
borders were often troubled by their forays.

1848 was another year of disturbance: While the French troops were fighting Africa,
France had undergone yet another change of rgime: King Louis-Philippe
was replaced by the 2nd Republic; and in Rome; the Panslavic conference
at Prague; all Germany united in a parliament at Frankfort until German
unity was destroyed by the King of Prussia.

The Revolutions of 1848 were a series of political and economic revolts that
took place in Europe because of a recession and abuse of political power.
Those involved in these revolts included several groups; the Germans, the
Italians, the Hungarians and others. Although changes were made all
throughout Europe, the original, oppressive government took back control
soon after, undoing the work of the revolutionaries. And though these
changes didnt last long, the revolutions did prove to those observing these
events (including the governments and revolutionaries) that the people
could indeed undermine the government to bring about reform and create
the policies of socialism and liberalism.

July 1849 Apart from suppressing these enemies in the hills, the 2eR Colonel
Carbuccia was also ordered to attack a nest of insurgents at the Oasis of
Zaatcha. Inadequately briefed, the colonel was surprised by the strength
of the defenses, and was forced to fall back after losing 32 dead and 115
wounded.
A second assault was soon organized, with a much stronger force: 4000 men
supported by powerful artillery under the command of General
Herbillion. Even these resources were hardly over-generous, considering
the obstacles. The Oasis of Zaatcha was a huge palm grove surrounded by
a ditch more than twenty feet wide, and the few routes into it were
guarded by solid buildings held by experienced and determined warriors.
20
[Wikipedia]: The Sahara (Arabic: , a-ar al-kubra, The Greatest Desert) is the worlds
largest hot desert. At over 9,400,000 square kilometres (3,630,000 sq mi), it covers most of Northern
Africa, making it almost as large as Europe or the United States. The only larger desert in the world is
Antarctica, classified as such due to very low precipitation rates. The Sahara Desert stretches from the Red
Sea, including parts of the Mediterranean coasts, to the outskirts of the Atlantic Ocean. To the south, it is
delimited by the Sahel: a belt of semi-arid tropical savanna that comprises the northern region of central
and western Sub-Saharan Africa.
 45

The attack was mounted in harsh winter weather; the troops already weakened
by cholera, which had been brought into camp by the reinforcements
newly arrived from France.
After six-weeks of grim fighting, the Lgionnaires finally took Zaatcha at
bayonet-point on 26 November 1849. Herbillions column had suffered
1500 dead and wounded.

For a period of eight years, the two regiments of the Lgion marched back-
and-forth across the length and breadth of Algeria. They built forts,
cleared and marked tracks, and set up the safe markets which helped to
reconcile the tribes to a more peaceful way of life. Often enough they had
to lay aside their picks and shovels and take up the rifle and bayonet:
Although most of Algeria was more-or-less peaceful, there still remained
scattered areas which had never submitted. This was particularly true of
Kabylia. [Infer, autumn 1856]

1851 The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations or The Great
Exhibition, sometimes referred to as the Crystal Palace Exhibition in
reference to the temporary structure in which it was held, was an
international exhibition that took place in Hyde Park, London, from May
1st to October 15th, 1851. It was the first in a series of Worlds Fair
exhibitions of culture and industry that were to become a popular 19th-
century feature. The Great Exhibition was organized by Henry Cole21 and
Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the spouse of the reigning
monarch, Victoria.

21
[Wikipedia]: Sir Henry Cole (15 July 1808, Bath, England 18 April 1882, London, England) was an
English civil servant and Inventor who facilitated many innovations in commerce and education in 19th
century Britain, and introduced the world's first commercial Christmas card.
 46

Cole caricatured, as King Cole, in Vanity Fair, 19 August 1871

 47

02 12 1851 The 2nd Republic, had hardly seen the light of day before it was strangled by
its own president, who soon afterwards had him proclaimed Emperor
Napoleon III of the French.22

Franz Xavier Winterhalter: Napoleon III Emperor of the French (1852)

Tsar Nicolas I of Russia

Sebastopol
In 1853, Tsar Nicholas I decided to seize Constantinople. His aims were to
secure Russian control of the Bosphorus and free access from the Black
Sea to the Mediterranean, and to give the final coup de grace to the
Ottoman Empire the sick man of Europe.

1854-6 Crimean War

14 09 1854 The allies landed in Crimea without any interference. After a first victory
over the Russians at the Alma, they settled down to besiege Sebastopol. It
was in this fortress town, which was formidably defended for its day that
the Russian army and fleet had concentrated for the attempt on
Constantinople.

22
[Wikipedia]: Louis-Napolon Bonaparte (20 April 1808 9 January 1873) was the President of the
French Second Republic and as Napoleon III, the ruler of the Second French Empire. He was the nephew
and heir of Napoleon I, christened as Charles Louis Napolon Bonaparte. Elected President by popular
vote in 1848, he initiated a coup dtat in 1851, becoming dictator before ascending the throne as Napoleon
III on 2 December 1852, the forty-eighth anniversary of Napoleon Is coronation. He ruled as Emperor of
the French until 4 September 1870. He holds the unusual distinction of being both the first titular president
and the last monarch of France.
 48

The Charge of the Light Brigade

Flashd all their sabres bare,

Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
Forward, the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns he said:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
Forward, the Light Brigade!
Was there a man dismayd?
Not tho the soldiers knew
Some one had blunderd:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
Cannon to the right of them,
Cannon to the left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volleyd and thunderd;
Stormd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.
Flashd as they turned in air
Sabreing the gunners there,
Charging an army while
All the world wonderd:
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right thro the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reeld from the sabre-stroke
Shatterd and sunderd.
Then they rode back, but not
Not the six hundred.
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volley'd and thunderd;
Stormd at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro the jaws of Death,
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.
When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wonderd.
Honour the charge they made!
Honour the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred!

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Prince Menshikov, the Chief Commander of the Russian troops in the

Crimea, decided to give battle to the enemy army on the position which he
had chosen beforehand, namely nearby the Alma River between
Yevpatoria and Sebastopol. He concentrated some 30,000 Russian
soldiers in this place.
On 7 September, the Allied troops approached the Russian position and
stationed their troops northward, 6 km away from it. Compared to the
Allies, the Russians had half the number of soldiers, a third of artillery
 49

guns and a very little number of rifled barrels. The Russian infantry was
armed with flint smooth-bore guns of 300-step rifle range; while the
British and French were armed with Schtuzer rifle barrels of 1200-step
firing range.

The battle actually began in the morning of 8 September. In order to aid the
Allied troops, the enemy sought to suppress the Russian artillery
counteractions by concentrating intensive fire on them. The losses in
artillery-men, both killed and wounded, were extremely serious; infantry
suffered huge losses from the enemy long-range guns. The Russians were
trained in bayonet attacks and were trying to employ this tactics all the
time when possible. The French and British, on the contrary, avoided
hand-to-hand combat and were heavily firing from the distance which
could not be covered by the out-dated Russian guns.23

The siege would last for a year in appalling conditions; horrors of climate,
aggravated by cholera epidemic carried off thousands of men and
commanders of both allied expeditionary forces, Ragland and Saint-
Arnaud.
Represented from the start by the 1er Regiment trangres, the Lgion was
soon brought up to brigade strength with reinforcements from the 2e
Regiment trangres.24 They distinguished them at Alma, and were
almost alone in their pursuit of Menshikovs fleeing troops. They then
took their place in the siege lines before Sebastopol.

For the first time a close cooperation between the Army and the Navy was
organized in the Battle of Sebastopol. They included ships fire in the
defence fire system. The Black Sea Fleets warships, which were capable
of maneuvering in the harbour, opened accurate fire at the enemy causing
him serious damage. Throughout more than eleven months the Russian
soldiers and sailors, though being greatly outnumbered, did not spare
themselves and defended Sebastopol, displaying remarkable heroism,
indescribable courage and valour.

01 05 1855 After the armies had passed a hideous winter in the trenches, the allied
command decided to mount an offensive to enliven the front. It failed.
At the cost of a pointless massacre. Among the Lgions 118 dead and
480 wounded fell Colonel Vienot of the 1er Regiment trangres - His
name was commemorated in the title of the Lgion barracks in Sidi-bel-
Abbes.
23
Heroic Defence of Sebastopol (1854-1855): an Essay by Colonel A.N. Lagovsky. In that heroic defence
of Sebastopol, the people of Russia had once again demonstrated to the whole world both its fighting
strength and the strength of its character and will. And decades later the traditions of Sebastopol defenders
of 1854-1855 would inspire the Russian people to fight against foreign invaders and conquerors which
dared to infringe upon our Motherlands national independence.
24
January 1855 and April 1856, it had been decided to form two new and separate units which kept the title
of Lgion only between these dates.
 50

Siege of Sebastopol, by Alphonse de Neuville

The British assault on the Redan failed but the French under General de Mac-Mahon managed to
seize the Malakoff redoubt making the Russian defensive position untenable.

18 06 1855 Another attack was launched, this time upon the key of the Russian position
the Malakoff redoubt. Once more the attackers were repulsed: 60,000
French and British soldiers were sacrificed in a bungled operation.

On September 8th, the attackers tried yet again; for once, the Lgion was
represented only by a handful of men; but these hundred volunteers were
the spearhead of the assault, right out in front of the attack columns,
carrying scaling ladders and wooden beams. By the time the main assault
units reached their objectives, Sergeant Valliezs Lgionnaires had already
built scaffolding ramps for them against the Russian defenses. That
evening the Malakoff fell, at last. And, that same night the Russians began
to evacuate Sevastopol.

August 1856 The Crimean War ends: The reward for the Lgion in the east
disbandment. The men were shipped back to Sidi-bel-Abbes, where they
re-enlisted in one of the two new Lgions.
 51

The new 2nd Foreign Lgion (2eFL), composed entirely of Swiss, was re-
designated 1re Foreign Regiment. The veterans of Kabylia and the
Crimea had to take subordinate place in the line as 2e Foreign Regiment
retaining, more-or-less, the uniform of the line infantry: crimson trousers
and blue tunics. For a time the Swiss 1re RE was designated by a green
tunic.
Red and green, from now on, would become the Lgions distinctive colours,
surviving in certain embellishments, even when the green uniforms of the
short-lived 1re RE disappeared. It was in these uniforms that the two
regiments fought against the Austrians in Italy, in 1859.
 52

1856 Alexander II of Russia25

Autumn 1856 Kabylia... rugged mountains, snow-covered in winter, notorious as a

center of fierce resistance to foreign rule for the French Kabylia was
recognized as a potential threat to the security of their whole system in
Algeria. Since 1838, many vain attempts had been made to reduce this
natural mountain fortress.
In the autumn of 1856, a major offensive was mounted, and several French
columns slowly converged towards the rocky heat of Kabylia. One-by-
one in hard fighting, the ridges and valleys were cleared; but fighting was
still going on eight months later, when, on 24 July 1857, the Lgion added
the name of Ischeriden to its battle honours.

25
[Wikipedia]: Alexander II (Russian: II , Aleksandr II Nikolaevich) (29 April
[O.S. 17 April] 1818, Moscow 13 March [O.S. 1 March] 1881, Saint Petersburg), also known as
Alexander the Liberator (Russian: , Aleksandr Osvoboditel) was the Emperor
of the Russian Empire from 3 March 1855 until his assassination in 1881. He was also the King of Poland
and the Grand Prince of Finland.
 53

Bataille dIscheriden (compagnie de voltigeurs du 1er bataillon du 2e rgiment tranger)

Aquarelle de Pierre Bnigni

Ischeriden The Old Lgion

Between four-and-five thousand Kabyle warriors were holding the crest of a
steep ridge. The first French assault failed despite artillery support.
General MacMahon, commanding the column, ordered the (Old Lgion)
2e Regiment trangres into the attack. The men advanced up the slope as
if on parade, in impeccable order and with shouldered arms; they did not
fire a single shot. This extraordinary display of confidence disconcerted
the Kabyles; and when the Lgionnaires had climbed steadily up to the
crest through a hail of fire, and put in their final assault with bayonet, the
tribesmen soon abandoned their position and melted away.
It was only a matter of days before Kabyle resistance finally crumbled.
Marshal Randon promised each of the village headmen that the laws and
customs of the tribes would be respected. He kept his word and so did
his successors.
With the Battle of Ischeriden, the pacification of Algeria was effectively
completed. The Lgionnaires could return home to Sidi-bel-Abbes.
 54

The hanging of two participants in the Indian Rebellion of 1857

Albumen silver print by Felice Beato, 1858

1857 The Indian Rebellion of 1857 began as a mutiny of sepoys of the British East
India Companys army on 10 May 1857, in the town of Meerut, and soon
erupted into other mutinies and civilian rebellions: The rebellion is also
known as Indias First War of Independence, the Great Rebellion, the
Indian Mutiny, the Revolt of 1857, the Uprising of 1857, the Sepoy
Rebellion and the Sepoy Mutiny. The 1857 rebellion was by and large
confined to northern Indian Gangetic Plain and central India.
The scale and savagery of the punishments handed out by the British Army
of Retribution were considered largely appropriate and justified in a
Britain shocked by the barrage of press reports about atrocities carried out
on Europeans and Christians.
The rebellion led to the dissolution of the East India Company in 1858, and
forced the British to reorganize the army, the financial system, and the
administration in India. India was thereafter directly governed by the
CROWN in the new British Raj.

1858 Robert Owen died.

 55

The Italian camp at the Battle of Magenta

1859 Franco-Austrian war: Battles of Magenta and Solferino.

French intervention in Italy was the natural consequence of Napoleon IIIs

liberal political ideas; he always had great sympathy for the Italian
caronari the patriots who had fought in the shadows for too long, in
pursuit of the old dream of unifying their country, which was still largely
occupied by Austria.

In spring 1859, the campaign opened. And, the Lgion was there. This its second
intervention in a European war would be short, but brilliant.

04 06 1859 The Battle of Magenta was fought on June 4, 1859 during the Second
Italian War of Independence, resulting in a French-Sardinian victory under
Napoleon III against the Austrians under Marshal Ferencz Gyulai. It took
place near the town of Magenta in northern Italy on 4 June 1859. The
battle of Magenta was not particularly large, but it was a decisive victory
for the French-Sardinian forces.

The town of Magenta came into sight; and so did the Austrian army. It was
about 3 p.m. when the Lgionnaires found themselves in thickly cultivated
country, broken up by hedges and vineyards. Murderous terrain for
cavalry; it was the infantrymans natural fighting ground. Pausing to fire
volleys, the Austrian army advanced among the thickets and lanes. On the
 56

left, the French line; the horsemen of the mounted Chasseurs began to fall
back.
Standing upright in his stirrups, the Lgions Colonel de Chabrire roared:
Packs off. Forward, La Lgion.
Bayonets held low, the Lgionnaires charged into the attack.

The momentum of this furia francese rocked the Austrians they recoiled,
fell back, and finally fled. By evening, the victory was won.

05 06 1859 The next day, Milan was liberated. The Lgion marched into the city at the
head of the French army. It had earned this right by the spilling of its
blood: 15 Lgion officers were wounded or dead, including Colonel de
Chabrire (morte), and nearly 300 NCOs and fighting men.
The Battle of Solferino brought the campaign to a close.

The Battle of Solferino, (referred to in Italian as the Battle of Solferino and San
Martino), was fought on June 24, 1859 and resulted in the victory of the
allied French Army under Napoleon III and Sardinian Army under Victor
Emmanuel II (together known as the Franco-Sardinian Alliance) against
the Austrian Army under Emperor Franz Joseph I; it was the last major
battle in world history where all the involved armies were under the
personal command of their monarchs.
The clash was chaotic, on a front stretching for 15 kilometers. In the early
afternoon, the French broke through the Austrian center. The fighting
continued later in the villages near Solferino, Cavriana and Guidizzolo,
until a violent rainstorm halted them; they however continued at San
Martino till night. The battle was a particularly grueling one, lasting over
nine hours and resulting in over 3000 Austrian troops killed with 10,807
wounded and 8638 missing or captured. The Allied armies also suffered a
total of 2492 killed, 12,512 wounded and 2922 captured or missing.
Reports of wounded and dying soldiers being shot or bayoneted on both
sides added to the horror. In the end, the Austrian forces were forced to
yield their positions, and the Allied French-Piedmontese armies won a
tactical, but costly, victory.

After a detour which brought it to Paris for its first triumphal parade throughout
the capital, the Lgion returned to Algeria. It was not to remain there for
long!

In October 1859, for lack of recruits, the exclusively Swiss establishment (and the green
uniforms) of the 1er Regiment trangres was abandoned.

In December 1861, all Lgionnaires were gathered together once more into a single
Foreign Regiment clad in traditional blue and red.
 57

Napoleon III at the Battle of Solferino by Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier

Oil on canvas, 1863

Franz Joseph I, Emperor of Austria (1830-1916)

wearing the uniform of an Austrian Field Marshal

William Walker 6th President of the Republic of Nicaragua

 58

William Walker (May 8, 1824 September 12, 1860) was an American

physician, lawyer, journalist and adventurer, who organized several private
military expeditions into Latin America, with the intention of establishing
English-speaking colonies under his personal control, an enterprise then
known as filibustering. Walker became president of the Republic of
Nicaragua in 1856 and ruled until 1857, when he was defeated by a
coalition of Central American armies. He was executed by firing squad by
the government of Honduras in 1860.

Vittorio Emanuele II Abraham Lincoln

1861 Victor Emmanuel, first King of Italy.26 Abraham Lincoln became President of
the United States. American Civil War began.

1863 British bombarded a Japanese town

26
[Wikipedia]: Vittorio Emanuele II (English: Victor Emmanuel II) (Vittorio Emanuele Maria Alberto
Eugenio Ferdinando Tommaso; 14 March 1820 9 January 1878) was the King of Piedmont, Savoy, and
Sardinia from 1849 to 1861. On 17 March 1861, he assumed the title King of Italy to become the first king
of a united Italy, a title he held until his death in 1878. The Italians gave him the epithet Father of the
Fatherland (Italian: Padre Della Patria).
 The Battle of Gettysburg, Pa. July 3d. 1863
Depicting the Battle of Gettysburg, fought 1-3 July 1863
The battle was part of the American Civil War and was won by the North.
Hand-colored lithograph by Currier and Ives
 Non son hombres, son demonios!

I prefer to leave foreigners rather than Frenchmen to guard the most unhealthy area
where malaria reigns.
General lie Forey, Commander-in-Chief,
French Expeditionary Force, Mexico, 1863

Napoleon III chanced to collect bad debts on behalf of his half-brother, Duke de
Morny, and to extend the French Empire into the New World. By 1861,
the emperor had set his eyes on Mexico he could invade it without U. S.
opposition because of civil war.27
The Mexicans had a special talent for financial anarchy.

As often is the way with Lgions heroism, political squalor was in stark
contrast to the idealism of the soldiers. The Lgion was in Mexico in the
1860s because Mexican President Miguel Miramn had covered his debts
by selling valueless bonds to greedy Europeans who still believed in an El
Dorado in Central America. Miramn was swept aside in a coup dtat
and replaced by Benito Pablo Jurez, who suspended payment of interest
on these debts for two years. Spanish, British, and French creditors
demanded military action from their respective governments and
succeeded.
The French persisted Napoleon III went beyond sending a man-o-war to
exact reparation for the unpaid interest. From the House of Hapsburg he
conjured up a new monarch for Mexico, whom he could control.
Maximilian stylish and popular younger brother of Franz Josef,
(Napoleon IIIs recent enemy in Italy).
In Vienna, Franz Josef counseled Maximilian against taking the contract. As
did the British government. But Maximilian refused the advice.
The Mexicans drove the first expeditionary force back into the sea. A second,
lager force, was dispatched and conquered Mexico City. But was
trapped by the impossible burden of fighting an endless guerilla war in a
hostile country whose population was universally hostile to an alien
monarch imposed from outside.

The official French fighting force of 3000 men, in 1862, grew to 40,000 under
the Lgion veteran of the North African campaign, Bazaine, 28 then was
withdrawn in 1867. Maximilian was left to the firing squad and his
empress left to insanity.

27
In 1776, the French backed anti-colonial Americans verses Britain: France sought to benefit from an
internecine quarrel by imposing a new monarchy in Mexico.
28
For their part, the Lgionnaires contributed to their reputation as being a band of difficult thugs and
thieves. The greatest sources of desertion among the French forces stationed in Mexico. I shall have
some of them shot, Major General Francois-Achille Bazaine, a veteran of North African wars, the Spanish
Civil War, the Crimean Campaign, and the Italian Campaign of 1859, who later became Marshal of France,
wrote in disgust. It is quite clear that a good many of them enrolled in the corps to get a free trip, but it
cost them dearly if they are caught
 CAMERONE
Three years after the Italian campaign, a new arena beckoned and it was there,
in Mexico, that Le Lgion would enter into legend.

Battle of Camarn

A French expeditionary force was first sent to Mexico to protect French

interests from US expansionist policies, at a time when several European
nations were embroiled in the chaotic affairs of the region. The French
stayed on to support the Emperor Maximilian a puppet-ruler installed by
Napoleon III. The Lgion was not at first among the units assigned to
the expeditionary force. It was a petition, sent personally to Napoleon III
by the young officers of the regiment petitioning Emperor Napoleon
III for a chance to participate in the Mexican campaign, which set them on
their way. Mexico conjured up visions of horsemanship, dancing girls
and hot liquor, as well as, military glory.

09 02 1863 Two battalions strong of the Regiment trangres, plus a Headquarters

Company, marched on to the transports
28 03 1863 More than a year after the first French soldiers landed, they landed, at Vera
Cruz, on the Mexican coast. 2000 men disembarked.

By now the campaign had been bogged down, 150 miles inland a cool 5000
feet above sea level The forces of President Jurez had decided to
make a stand at the town of Puebla, now under siege by the invaders. The
 French supply line from the malarial swamp on the coast and up through
the high plateau was under constant challenge by guerillas.
The Lgion, with memories of Sebastopol, cheerfully readied to join the fight at
Puebla instead were ordered to man a series of local guard-posts, near
the coast. A cruel disillusionment for the Lgion: They expected to march
inland to Puebla, the major Juarist center,29 which the French placed
under siege. Instead, the Lgionnaires were given the thankless duty of
providing road security along the route which led from the port up to
Puebla.

The French Commander-in-Chief in Mexico, General lie-Frdric Forey,

made no secret of the reason why he decided to waste the Lgions
fighting spirit in manning the lines of communication.

I prefer to leave foreigners rather than Frenchmen to guard the most

unhealthy area, the tropical zone from Vera Cruz to Cordoba, where malaria
reigns.

The Lgion was stationed in the most inhospitable region of the country: the
low-lying coastal hot-lands, where cholera and yellow fever la Vomito
Negro and other less well defined maladies, which rapidly started to take
its toll on the regiment, raged unchecked. Mexico a grim country and
Juarezs partisans gave no quarter to enemies. [The initiative was with the
opposition (as in the early Algerian conflict with Abd-el-Kader).]

Benito Pablo Jurez Garca

29
[Wikipedia]: Benito Pablo Jurez Garca (21 March 1806 18 July 1872) was a Zapotec Indian from
Oaxaca who served five terms as president of Mexico: 18581861 as interim, 18611865, 18651867,
18671871 and 18711872. Benito Jurez was the first Mexican leader who did not have a military
background, and also the first full-blooded indigenous national ever to serve as President of Mexico and to
lead a country in the Western Hemisphere. He resisted the French occupation, overthrew the Empire,
restored the Republic, and used liberal efforts to modernize the country.
01 04 1863 After a rail journey of a few miles up to the Tejera, the Lgionnaires
marched inland to Chiquituite, where their Colonel Pierre Jenningross
established his headquarters. From place-to-place, along the march, small
detachments were left to guard sections of the dirt road and the isolated
work-camps along the planned route of the railway.

There was some action even as the lgionnaires were getting their bearings,
during early April
th
On April 18 , one of these railway work-camps under the Lgions protection was
attacked by the guerrilla band of Antonio Diaz, mayor of Jalapa. The
place was sacked, the workers driven off, and their escort massacred.
On April 20th, two days later, Diaz mounted another raid but this time his intended prey
was a company of the Lgion.
The Lgionnaires counter-attacked, and cut the guerillas to pieces. The Prussian
Lieutenant Milson killed Diaz with his own hand. Henceforward, the
Juarists knew that the Lgion was nothing to be trifled with.

Col. Jenningross sent two companies their strength diminished by illness to

meet the convoy on its way up to his base command post on the upper
slopes of Chiquihuite Mountain.
Two days later, an Indian spy brought Jenningross grave news the convoy
was about to be ambushed not by amateur soldiers but by several
battalions of regular infantry and cavalry and local guerillas. Colonel
Martinez (regular army) was in charge of the operation; Colonel Cambas,
another leader, had studied military science in France.

29 04 1863 Just a month after the disembarkation, Col. Jenningross was informed that
an important convoy was leaving Vera Cruz for Puebla.30 Apart from 3
million francs in gold, rations and ammunition, the convoy included siege
equipment essential to the outcome of the siege of Puebla, which had now
been dragging on a year.
All to aware of the lack of security in the Lgions sector of responsibility, Col.
Jenningross decided to send a company of Lgionnaires down towards
the coast to meet the convoy on its way. The 3rd Company was available
but all its officers were sick. Capitaine Jean Danjou, one of the
colonels head-quarter staff, volunteered to take command: Two Sergeant-
Majors promoted from the ranks joined him: Sous-Lieutenant Maudet
was chosen as the colour-bearer, and Sous-Lieutenant Vilain, as pay-
master. All three were experienced combat officers; but the 3rd Company,
ravaged by fever, could only put 62 NCOs and men on parade, of a normal
complement of 120, including an antiquated legionnaire named Babin,31
30
To break the siege at Puebla, General lie-Frdric Forey imported heavy guns, and these, together
with ammunition, food, gold pieces and a host of good things set off from Vera Cruz, on April 15th, in a
painfully slow convoy of sixty horse-drawn vehicles.
31
When Babin learned that he was to be left behind (with the sick), he barged into the Colonels quarters
and declared loudly, Who of you is to say that Babin should not go on this march because he is too old?
When all of you were still at suck on your wet-nurses tits, I, Babin, was on the march! He delicately
 who was to be left behind because of his age, and had to argue with the
officers that in the old days a man was never to old or sick to fight it
was march ou crve and Liu, a 13-year-old Vietnamese drummer-
boy.

In the cool darkness, an hour after mid-night, the company swung off down the
track with rations and spare ammunition on mules. The men marched
from Chiquihuite on a north-easterly bearing to the coast. They were to
patrol as far as Palo Verde, about twenty miles distant, then return.

30 04 1863 At about 2 a.m. they took their brief regulation rest at a spot called Paso del
Macho, a post garrisoned by their comrades of Capitaine Saussiers
company of grenadiers. There they stayed briefly for a brew of coffee and
some black bread.
Capitaine Saussier offered Danjou more men when he heard of the strength of
the opposition waiting to ambush the convoy. But Danjou was anxious to
be on his way and declined the offer. They did not stay long, and 5 a.m.
found them marching past the ruins of a little abandoned hamlet named
Camerone.

Danjous mission was to march to Palo Verde, where he was to search the
surrounding scrub country for any Juarist ambush that might be lying in
wait for the convoy. In theory, the convoys departure from Vera Cruz was
a military secret; but Danjou was too old a soldier to imagine the enemy
had not gotten wind of it. He was not mistaken.
Ever since their departure from Paso del Macha, Danjous company had been
trailed at a distance by 600 Juarist cavalry, led by Colonel Francisco de
Paula-Milan. Warned of the convoys departure, the Mexicans were
assembling for the attack some 800 mounted troops, as well as 300
regular infantry battalions of Jalapa, Vera Cruz and Cordoba perhaps
2000 men in all.

As the sun climbed from the horizon, Danjou and his company left the mud-
brick ruins of Camerone behind them and continued down the track to
Palo Verde. There they halted, posted sentries, and settled down to make
morning coffee. They never tasted it. Almost at once, the sentries gave
alarm: they had spotted the advance guard of the [ ] cavalry of Don
Hilario Psario, who had been dogging their tracks since the middle of the
night.

Capitaine Danjou reacted fast so fast, the men did not even have time to refill
their canteens with the water they had poured out to make coffee. If his

touched one finger to the top of his head and, with tother hand bent to his hip, he pirouetted, La-de-da-de-
da. Babin cheekily chirped like a girl, I am Babin le coquette too old and feeble to march. And,
Babin pleaded to go, In the old days, a lgionnaire was never too old, nor too sick, and he wasnt asked,
but told march ou crve. So that he was allowed to go, too.
 lgionnaires were going to be attacked, Danjou knew they had no chance
of survival in this flat scrubland.32 They needed walls around them
Even the ruined walls of Camerone would afford a degree of protection; he
decided to fall back towards them. In column and by sections, the 3rd
Company started back up the track.

It was a sensible reaction to the circumstance; but, the Mexican Colonel Milan,
watching from a distance, drew his own conclusions. That sudden retreat
might mean that the French soldiers had spotted evidence of the ambush
which he was carefully preparing for the convoy. From that moment, the
fate of the 3rd Company was sealed: it would have to be wiped out. There
must be no witnesses. And, if it was to be destroyed, it was vital to attack
before they reached the shelter of Camerone.

The horsemen charged straight into the attack. Danjou countered by forming a
square the classic defense against cavalry. At sixty paces, the
lgionnaires opened fire. And, the Mexican charge was broken. Using
the few moments that they had bought, the lgionnaires stumbled on
downwards towards the ruins
A second charge had hit them when they finally reached cover; they formed a
square once more, fired a volley, and then counter-attacked, with bayonet
to cries of Vive lempereur. Disengaging, they threw them into the

32
Cf., [Wikipedia]: The Battle of the Little Bighorn, also known as Custers Last Stand and, by the
Native Americans involved, the Battle of the Greasy Grass, was an armed engagement between combined
forces of Lakota, Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho people against the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the United
States Army. It occurred on 25-26 June 1876, near the Little Bighorn River in eastern Montana Territory,
near what is now Crow Agency, Montana.
The battle was the most famous action of the Great Sioux War of 187677 (also known as the
Black Hills War). It was an overwhelming victory for the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Araphao, led by
several major war leaders, including Crazy Horse and Gall, inspired by the visions of Sitting Bull
(Tatka yotake). The U.S. Seventh Cavalry, including the Custer Battalion, a force of 700 men led by
George Armstrong Custer, suffered a severe defeat. Five of the Seventh's companies were annihilated;
Custer was killed, as were two of his brothers, a nephew, and a brother-in-law. Total U.S. deaths were 268,
including scouts, and 55 were wounded.
Also cf., [Wikipedia]: Opration Castor was a French airborne operation in the First Indochina
War. The operation established a fortified airhead in Dien Bien Province, in the north-west corner of
Vietnam. Commanded by Brigadier General Jean Gilles, Castor was the largest airborne operation since
World War II. The Operation began at 10:35 on 20 November 1953, with reinforcements dropped over the
following two days. With all its objectives achieved, the operation ended on 22 November.
General Navarre created the outpost to draw the Viet Minh into fighting a pitched battle. That
battle, the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, occurred four months after Operation Castor. The Battle of Dien
Bien Phu (French: Bataille de Din Bin Phu; Vietnamese: Chin dch in Bin Ph) was the climactic
confrontation of the First Indochina War between the French Unions French Far East Expeditionary
Corps and Viet Minh communist revolutionaries. The battle occurred between March and May 1954 and
culminated in a comprehensive French defeat that influenced negotiations over the future of Indochina at
Geneva. Military historian Martin Windrow wrote that in Bin Ph was the first time that a non-
European colonial independence movement had evolved through all the stages from guerrilla bands to a
conventionally organized and equipped army able to defeat a modern Western occupier in pitched battle.
 cover of the shelter of a large walled yard, whose southern side lay along
the Puebla road.

Only the building on the north side of the enclosure merited the name of house:
a two-story structure roofed with red tiles. The wall around the yard was
ten feet high, and stoutly built of stone and mud cement. On the east side
of the yard it was pierced by two open gateways; against a wall between
them was a tumbledown lean-to shed. Along the inside of the long south
wall was another out-building in slightly better condition. It was here that
some of the lgionnaires took up position. They improved it as best as
they could, making loopholes for their rifles.
Opposite them, in the building on the north side, Danjou and the rest of the 3rd
Company did the same. They barricaded the gateways, blocked a hole in
the corner of the wall, and devised makeshift battlements.
Meanwhile, outside the walls, Colonel Milan was calling up his infantry.
Marching at the double, they were drawing nearer to the wretched hamlet,
where a total of 800 Mexican cavalrymen now only waited for the order to
annihilate these sixty-five Frenchmen sheltering in the outbuildings of La
Trinidad. Milan sent forward an emissary Lieutenant Ramon Laine
to offer the French a chance of honourable surrender. From the roof,
Sergeant Morzycki, a Pole, passed on the offer to his Capitaine and
translated his reply: Out of the question.

The assaults began almost at once. The first was launched by the dismounted
Mexican cavalry, who had first stripped off their outsized spurs. The
attack was driven off, but Capitaine Danjou was mortally wounded.
Shortly before he died, he made his men vow that they would not
surrender, but would fight to the death if they must. The lgionnaires gave
him their solemn oath.

French Union paratroopers dropping from a "Flying Boxcar"

 By 11 a. m., the 3rd Company had been defending their makeshift fort for three
hours. They had no food; no ammunition, beyond what they carried in
their pouches (the mules with the spare cartridges had stampeded during
the running fight back to Camerone); and, above all, no water. The single
bottle of wine had long been shared out a few drops for each man.
It was at this point that the three battalions of Mexican infantry came panting up.
Before sending them into the attack, Colonel Milan once again offered the
French the opportunity of surrender The answer he received was a single
short-but-expressive word, Merde. More usually identified with General
Cambronne on the battlefield of Waterloo.

The plight of the defenders was becoming desperate. Some of the Mexicans had
succeeded in clambering up into the top floor of the house; from this
vantage point, they loosed a hail of bullets down on the lgionnaires, and set
fire to the building before abandoning it. It was at this point that Sous-
Lieutenant Vilain was killed.

By 5 p. m., just twelve lgionnaires remained on their feet around Sous-

Lieutenant Maudet But still, they held on: Still, the Mexicans failed to
over-run their position. At one point, an eerie silence fell. The Mexicans
ceased firing; and, from their loopholes, the Frenchmen could hear Milan
haranguing his men, calling down shame upon them that two thousand
attackers had not yet managed to silence such a pitiful handful of defenders.
Then, with drums beating and trumpets blaring, a mass of Mexicans charged
into the corpse-strewn yard.
It came to hand-to-hand fighting almost at once. In a corner of the enclosure, his
back to the outbuildings, Sous-Lieutenant Maudet was still fighting.
Nobody stood with him now, except for Corporal Maine and lgionnaires
Catteau, Constantin, and Wenzel. At their officers word of command, the
four men fired their last cartridges; then, bayonets leveled, they moved not
back, but forwards. Five men charging two thousand. Maudet took only
two steps before he fell, hit by two bullets this, in spite of the devotion of
Catteau, who threw him in front of his officer and was struck nineteen times.

Maine, Wenzel, and Constantin stood alone, facing the enemy and certain death.
They were only saved by the arrival of the Mexican Colonel Combas, who
forced up the rifles that were trained on the lgionnaires and called on to
them, for the last time, to surrender. Maine replied that they would only do
so if they could keep their weapons and if Combas would promise that their
wounded would be cared for. The bayonets surrounding them trembled with
menace.
I can refuse nothing to men like you. replied Combas; and he escorted them to
the astonished Colonel Milan.
This is all there are left? Milan exclaimed. Then, these are not men, but
demons!
 Capitaine Danjous men had kept their word to the bitter end. By their bitter
resistance, they had forced Milans troops first to reveal them, and then to
become tied down in a day-long battle. The 3rd Company of the Foreign
Regiment had saved the convoy. Their victory had made possible a French
victory at Puebla.

At the request of Colonel Jenningross, the Emperor Napoleon III decreed that
the name of CAMERONE should be inscribed on the regimental colour.
And, it is borne to this day on all the regimental colours and standards of La
Lgion trangres.

In 1892, a monument was raised on the site of the battle; and its dignified inscription
sums up, admirably, not only the final action of the 3rd Company, but also
the essential spirit of La Lgion trangres:

Here stood fewer than sixty men against an entire army. Its weight overwhelmed
them. Life, sooner than courage, forsook these soldiers of France.

Each year, in every unit of the Foreign Legion, the anniversary of the Battle of
Camerone is celebrated with pomp and a scene of rededication. At
Aubagne, the wooden false hand of Capitaine Danjou gleaned from the
battlefield is paraded before the troops as a scared relic.
 Portrait of Maximilian I of Mexico, Chapultepec Castle

1864 Maximilian became Emperor of Mexico.

1865 Surrender of Appomattox Court House. Japan opened to the world.

1866 Prussia and Italy attacked Austria (and the south German states in alliance
with her). Battle of Sadowa

1867 The Emperor Maximilian shot.

1870 Napoleon III declared war against Prussia.

1871 Paris surrendered: (January). The King of Prussia became William I,

German Emperor. The Peace of Frankfort

1875 The Bulgarian atrocities

1877 Russo-Turkish War; Treaty of San Stefano; Queen Victoria became

Empress of India.

1878 The Treaty of Berlin: The Armed Peace of forty-six years began in Western
Europe.
 Le Boudin 33

Tiens, voil du boudin, voil du boudin, voil du boudin Pour les Alsaciens, les
Suisses et les Lorrains, pour les Belges y en a plus, pour les Belges y en a plus, ce sont
des tireurs au cul.

1st sonnerie
Nous sommes des dgourdis,
Nous sommes des lascars
Des types pas ordinaires.
Nous avons souvent notre cafard,
Nous sommes des lgionnaires

1st couplet
Au Tonkin, la Lgion immortelle
Tuyen-Quang illustra notre drapeau,
Hros de Camerone et frres modles
Dormez en paix dans vos tombeaux

2nd sonnerie
Nos anciens ont su mourir.
Pour la gloire de la Lgion.
Nous saurons bien tous prir
Suivant la tradition

2nd couplet
Au cours de nos campagnes lointaines,
Affrontant la fivre et le feu,
Oublions avec nos peines,
La mort qui nous oublie si peu.
Nous la Lgion

33
[Wikipedia]: Le Boudin (French pronunciation: [l bud]) is the official march of the French Foreign
Legion. Le Boudin is a reference to boudin, a type of blood sausage or black pudding. Le boudin
colloquially meant the gear (rolled up in a red blanket) that used to top the backpacks of Legionnaires. The
song makes repeated reference to the fact that the Belgians don't get any blood sausage, since the King of
Belgium at the time forbade his subjects from joining the Legion. While the tune was composed prior to
the Legions departure for Mexico in the 1860s the words were probably adopted shortly after 1870 as
many men from Alsace and Lorraine (regions recently lost to Germany) joined the Legion.
Le Boudin is sung while standing to attention by all ranks of the French Foreign Legion. The Legion
marches at only 88 steps per minute, much slower than the 120 steps per minute of all other French military
units. Consequently, the Legion contingent at the Bastille Day march brings up the rear. Nevertheless,
the Legion gets the most enthusiastic response from the crowd.
 Bibliography

The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World from Marathon to Waterloo

by E. S. Creasy; Hurst & Co., New York, 1851; 38688: Synopsis of Events
between the Battle of Valmy (1792) and the Battle of Waterloo (1815).

The Outline of History being a Plain History of Life and Mankind by

H. G. Wells: P. F. Collier and Son Co., New York, 1922; 1325-28 Vol. 4

A Short History of the World by H. G. Wells: Pelican, Great Britain,

1965; 363

The French Foreign Legion The inside story of the World Famous
fighting force by John Robert Young; with an Introduction by Len Deighton
LCCN 84-50777

The History of the Legion by Erwan Bergot

Following: The Lafayette Escadrille, which started in April, 1916 as the Escadrille Amricaine.
As this name prompted German diplomatic complaints, it was renamed the Escadrille Lafayette.
The fame of its thirty-eight American pilots exceeded their tangible impact; in 20 months, they
downed 57 German planes, a solid, if unspectacular achievement.